Common Sense Bill Fails Senate

Unfortunately, that headline could be true for not only SB 3 but also quite a few other measures over the years. 

Authored by Sen. Jeff Drozda, SB 3 was an attempt to insure that pharmacists were not required by their superiors to dispense abortion causing “day after pills” or any other medical device or substance that would cause an abortion or assist an individual in committing suicide or otherwise causing the taking of human life.

The bill included safeguards that provided for the establishment of a procedure to fill a prescription whenever an individual pharmacists refused to dispense an otherwise legal substance.  These safeguards should have nullified the bills opponents who claimed that its passage would prevent women from easily obtaining the day after pill.  However, in the final minutes of floor debate Sen. Drozda had to repeatedly fend of unfounded attacks that he was attempting to prevent women in rural communities from accessing “needed” medicine.

The purpose of SB 3 was not to deny access to abortion inducing substances but to prevent pharmacists from having to violate their conscience and convictions and dispense medicine that takes human life, especially human life at its very earliest stages.

The final vote was 24-24 so if Sen. Drozda is going to be able to revive the bill he will need to convince one of the senators who voted against it to switch his vote and bring it up for a 3rd reading again.